09.10.16

GREETINGS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM!

And Happy Thanksgiving! Yesterday my family friends, hereby known as my "British foster parents" brought me to a restaurant called Toby Carvery, a restaurant dedicated to British roast dinners. Coincidentally, they served turkey as one of their four roast meat options, which in light of Thanksgiving, I chose as one of my meats!

Roast Dinner w. roast beef, turkey, and yorkshire pudding!

Moving to the UK has been quite overwhelming for me in the past week. Come to think about it, I have never even travelled somewhere by myself before, so moving to another country and starting work right away all by myself has been more challenging than I had imagined. (Granted I moved to university not knowing anyone, but that feels different) For that, I feel particularly emotional this Thanksgiving. I'm so incredibly grateful for my "British foster parents" for letting me stay in their house and for being so incredibly warm and helpful. My new colleagues at work have been very patient with me. I've only been at work for a week, but I've already been invited and included in so many activities, both formal and informal.

To put the cherry on top, I have been assigned a work buddy and she is TALL. It was quite funny because she even wore heels the first day we met, so I must've looked like a dwarf in comparison. Short people problems I tell you. Height aside, she has been super helpful. Her birthday happened to be this week, so she invited me to her birthday dinner party and introduced me to more of her friends. From the dinner, I guess you can say I got a taste of Friday evening's in central London for the very first time.

Quick shot of Friday evening in London

Speaking of Friday evening's in central London, it is no doubt the whole world loves Friday's and the beginning of the weekend. But Friday evening's in central  London feels like a bunch of people just got let out of jail. I have never seen the love for weekends brought to that level. New York's Time Square is busy but having lived in the city all my life, NYC feels normal. London on the other hand, feels at least 10 times crazier. From an outside perspective, it is bloody chaotic, but at the same time, it is oddly amusing and fun.

Here's a list of things that are different / interesting for me moving to the UK:

• The words motorway and pudding need some getting used to (instead of highway/freeway and dessert)
• The roads here are NARROW (have to rethink cars and driving)
• In fact everything is smaller, houses, rooms, train (the Tube is SO TINY)
• Parking is a HUGE problem, garages are not as common
• High rises are not as much of a thing here, flats are a handful of storeys high at most
• Brexit seems silly, there are a TON of people here that aren't British
• "Asians" largely refer to south Asians instead of east Asians
• Knitwear is common fashion in 15 degree weather, I don't usually wear any knitwear in Toronto until it's closer to zero degrees
• Any amount of snow in London seems to be too much snow
• There are zig zag lines on the road + roundabouts really are everywhere
• They measure distance in miles, talk about foreign language
• Life in London is really not that expensive compared to Toronto (yay for SY's bank account)
• X-Factor is huge here

And on a more work related note:

• Going to the bar after Friday is a thing (the potential alcoholic in me loves it)
• Ironing is a pain, I also suck at it
• DoubleTree by Hilton cookies are AMAZING! (don't recommend eating them every day though)

No cookie left by the time I took this photo

• I'm already running out of work appropriate attire, week one they say
• My department mascot is a penguin, everyone gets a desk penguin, I can't wait for my own desk penguin #priorities

That's all for today's post, until next time! ♥

Listening to "Wild Horses" by Birdy

Images by Me